George Whitman (1913-2011)

Death: 14th December 2011
Location: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Paris, France Plot: Division 73
Cause of death: Stroke
Photo taken by:  « parismojo.fr »

George Whitman was the American born owner of the famous English-language bookstore, Shakespeare & Company, on the Left Bank in Paris. 
Whitman founded his bookstore in 1951. It was originally called La Mistral, after the Chilean poet Gabriella Mistral, but the shop was renamed in 1964 in tribute to Sylvia Beach's earlier Shakespeare & Company bookstore, which was open between 1919 and 1941.
Whitman allowed aspiring novelists to stay at the store for days, weeks and even months at a time, offering them a makeshift bed among the shelves and alcoves of the shop in exchange for a few hours of work each day.  Many established authors and poets visited the shop to read from their work and sign their books; visitors included: Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Samuel Beckett, James Baldwin, Lawrence Durrell, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.

Comments